Houston L-1 Visa Attorney

What is L-1A visa classification?

An L-1A visa allows U.S. companies with affiliated foreign offices to transfer employees in executive or managerial positions to the U.S. for up to 7 years. The initial granting of an L-1A visa is valid for 3 years. Extensions are allowed in increments of 2 years with a maximum of 7 years allowed.

What are L-1A Visa requirements?

U.S. company and foreign company must have a qualifying relationship

Employee must have been employed with the foreign company for at least 1 continuous year in the 3 years preceding his or her admission in the U.S;

Employee’s position at the foreign company qualifies in as an executive or managerial position;

U.S. position must employ the Employee to perform the same executive or managerial services.

What are the specific requirements for the L-1 Employer?

The company must have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company, such as a parent company, branch office, subsidiary, or affiliate of the foreign company. These are collectively referred to as qualifying entities or qualifying organizations. The entities may include corporations, non-profits, religious or charitable organizations.

The company must also be, or will be, doing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay in the United States as for work immigration status. While the business must be viable, there is no requirement that it be engaged in international trade.

Doing business refers to the regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization and does not include the mere presence of an agent or office of the qualifying organization in the United States and abroad.

What are the specific requirements for the L-1A Employee?

The employee must have worked abroad for the overseas company for a continuous period of one year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States. Any time spent working in the United States will not count toward the one year of required employment.

The employee must have been employed abroad in an executive or managerial position, otherwise known as a qualifying position.

The employee must be coming to the U.S. to provide service in an executive or managerial capacity for a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.

What does being employed in an Executive capacity mean?

The Beneficiary must have been employed abroad and seek to be employed in the U.S. in the position that entails the following responsibilities:

Directing the management of the organization or a major component or function of the organization;

Establishing the goals and policies of the organization, component or function;

Exercising wide latitude in discretionary decision making;

And receiving only general supervision or direction from higher level executives, the board of directors, or stockholders of the organization.

What does being employed in a Managerial capacity mean?

The Beneficiary must have been employed abroad and seek to be employed in the U.S. in the position that entails the following responsibilities:

Managing the organization, or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organizations;

Supervising and controlling the work of other supervisory, professional, or managerial employees, or managing an essential function within the organization, or a department or subdivision of the organization;

Having the authority to hire and fire or recommend those as well as other personnel actions (such as promotion and leave authorization) if another employee or other employees are directly supervised; if no other employee is supervised, functioning at a senior level within the organizational hierarchy or with respect to the function managed;

And exercising discretion over day-to-day operations of the activity or function for which the Beneficiary has authority.

What are the specific requirements for a new office?

One of the benefits of the L-1 immigration visa program is that it allows companies the opportunity to relocate employees to the United States to expand their business and open up new offices. For foreign companies who want to send an L-1 visa employee to the United States for the purpose of establishing a new office, the following criteria must also be met:

The company must have secured a sufficient physical premise to house the new office.

The employee has been employed as an executive or manager for one continuous year in the three years preceding the filing of the petition; and

The new U.S. office will support the said executive, managerial, or specialized knowledge position within one year of receiving petition approval.

Houston Immigration Lawyer Gasana has focused their practice on law applicable to family members of the green card holders or U.S. citizens, foreign skilled workers, U.S. employer and investor visa; waivers and deportation cases. Claudine Gasana is one of the Houston best immigration attorneys, Houston, TX top immigration lawyer in Houston. Her practice areas range from family green card solutions to a variety of non-immigrant work visas such as H1B, TN, F-1, and O-1 for legal cases in oil and gas, heathcare, higher education industries and more. Contact an experienced Houston Visa Lawyer or visit our immigration office today.

The information on this website is for general purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. The reader should consult with a Licensed Attorney prior to filing for any petition as each individual case may be different.